URL filtering profile allows categories without logging
At a glance
Base severity
Area
Platform
Evidence level
Benchmark reference
Reads the export, not the device
ConfigProof reads a configuration export. This control is evaluated against the objects in that file, and it reports what the file says. It does not connect to the device and sees no traffic, so a finding here describes the configuration, not what the firewall is doing right now.
Why it matters
Access to an allowed category leaves no URL filtering log entry, so an investigation cannot show it happened.
How to fix it
Web interface
The steps below are written for the web interface. A finding raised on your own export carries the same steps with your object names filled in.
- Set the site access action of each allowed category to alert.
Command line
PAN-OS CLI, standalone firewall, vsys1
set vsys vsys1 profiles url-filtering <object-name> alert <category>delete vsys vsys1 profiles url-filtering <object-name> allow <category>
An example. Values in angle brackets are yours to supply; a finding on your own export fills in the names it read. Nothing here commits. Review the candidate configuration, then commit it yourself.
Read it back
show vsys vsys1 profiles url-filtering <object-name>Values to fill in2
- <object-name>
- The object's name, as it appears on your firewall
- <category>
- One URL category, as it appears in the profile's lists.
Before you type it1
- One category per line. A category sits in only one of block, alert and allow, so the delete lines are what move it.
How to confirm the fix
- Confirm the profile's allow list is empty after commit.
Limits
- Categories the profile names in no action list are not read.
Compliance references
CIS Palo Alto Firewall 11 Benchmark v1.2.0
Covers part of the recommendation
Where a control aligns with a recommendation of the CIS Palo Alto Firewall 11 Benchmark v1.2.0, that recommendation is cited as a reference. Only that version was checked. A reference is not a certification.
More in Security Profiles
- PAN-SEC-088Anti-spyware profile sinkholes DNS queries to no address
- PAN-SEC-099Vulnerability protection profile does not block critical or high severity
- PAN-SEC-100Anti-spyware profile does not block every severity
- PAN-SEC-133WildFire file size limit is below the documented default
- PAN-SEC-135WildFire session information is not all sent
- PAN-SEC-136Antivirus profile does not reset both sides on every decoder
- PAN-SEC-138URL filtering profile does not log every HTTP header field
- PAN-LIC-001Feature is configured and no valid license backs it
See it on your own firewall
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